About OneAmerica

OneAmerica® is the largest immigrant and refugee advocacy organization in Washington State, organizing with and advocating for diverse communities including Latinx, African, and Asian. Initially named Hate Free Zone, OneAmerica was founded immediately after September 11, 2001 to address the backlash, hate crimes, and discrimination against immigrant communities of color, primarily Muslims, Arab Americans, East Africans, and South Asians.

Today, OneAmerica plays an active and leading role in state and national coalitions working on immigrant rights, education, economic and environmental justice, voting rights, and immigrant integration. We believe that building broad-based movements led by people of color and their allies and grounded in grassroots community organizing will create a more just, democratic, and compassionate society.

Our Mission

OneAmerica advances the fundamental principles of democracy and justice at the local, state, and national levels by building power within immigrant communities in collaboration with key allies.

Our Vision

OneAmerica envisions a peaceful world where every person’s human rights and dignity are respected, where communities appreciate differences and stand together for justice and equality, and where each person contributes to the common good.

Our Commitment

We are a welcoming and learning community deeply committed to being a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, anti-racist, intergenerational organization that upholds fundamental values of human rights and racial equity both internally and externally. We are also committed to effectively utilizing our resources, evaluating our work, and learning from our experiences to consistently improve.

Our Theory of Change

Our theory of change begins with community organizing and leadership development in immigrant and refugee communities of color to create civic and political space for our grassroots leaders to shape and reform critical policies, practices, institutions, and movements that impact their lives. We engage grassroots leaders and members in targeted geographic communities through our civic engagement model: organizing, leadership development, naturalization, voter registration, voter education and turn-out, developing candidates for appointed and elected office, and people of color-led governance.

We support our members to take leadership on strategic campaigns at the local, state, and national level and bring critical skills and capacities – timely policy analysis, strategic communications, political and legislative experience – to these campaigns. We focus our approach on tactics that build the capacity of our grassroots leaders through campaigns that involve issue identification, research and policy analysis, direct advocacy and lobbying, petitions and related grassroots lobbying tactics, direct action, and electoral accountability.

Contact Us

The Washington New Americans program is a non-profit partnership between the State of Washington and OneAmerica that offers free assistance to help eligible legal permanent residents become U.S. citizens. For more information, visit www.wanewamericans.org or text or call the Hotline at 206-926-3924.